Doll&#39;s head and body joint



Sept. 4, 1962 H. R. BEEBE vows HEAD AND BODY JOINT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Nov. 4. 1960 INVENTOR. HERBERT R BEL BL- BY MY ATTORNEYS p 4, 1962H. R. BEEBE 3,052,061

DOLLS HEAD AND BODY JOINT Filed Nov. 4, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 "'QQ.' V m09% W y $9,049 I 44 INVENTOR.

HERBERT R. BEL BE 45 ATTORNEYJ United States Patent 3,052,061 DOLLS HEADAND BODY JOINT Herbert R. Beebe, Richmond Hill, N.Y., assignor toAmerican Doll & Toy Corp., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New YorkFiled Nov. 4, 1960, Ser. No. 67,399 1 Claim. (Cl. 46-173) This inventionrelates to dolls and has particular reference to an improvedconstruction of dolls head and body joint.

The invention comprehends a doll of hollow formation constructed ofthermoplastic material and the like in which the head is relatively hardand stiff, and the body soft and flexible but which inherently retainsits normal formation.

An object of the invention is to provide a dolls head and body of saidcharacter having interfitting coaxial flange and annular recess forretaining the parts in assembled relation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a dolls head and bodyjoint which permits of the convenient connecting of said parts forsecuring the head on the body and which permits of the removal of thehead from the body if desired.

Another object of the invention is to provide a dolls head and bodyjoint in which the head is formed with an annular flange dependingtherefrom about the opening into the head, and which snugly fits anannular recess surrounding the neck portion of the body, so as to smstantially enclose the same and which requires distortion of the body topermit of the insertion of the flange in the recess for connecting theparts together.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a doll body having acylindrical neck extending outwardly therefrom and formed with anannular flange intermediate the length thereof and with the lower end ofthe neck portion extending into the body of the doll and connectedtherewith by a recessed wall portion forming an annular recesssurrounding the neck portion and in which recess the correspondingshaped flange of the head is adapted to snugly fit below said annularflange.

With the aforegoing and other objects in view, refer ence is now made tothe following specifications and accompanying drawings in which thepreferred forms of the invention are illustrated.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view through a dolls head and the upper portion ofthe body of a doll illustrating a joint construction therebetweenembodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 illustrating a modified form of theinvention.

FIG. 4 is another view similar to FIG. 1 illustrating a further modifiedform of the invention.

Referring to the drawings and more particularly to the form of theinvention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 thereof, the dolls head and the body 11are of hollow formation preferably formed of thermoplastic material withthe dolls head relatively hard and stiff and the body soft and flexiblebut which inherently retains its normal formation.

The dolls head 10 is formed with a depending flange 12 of annularformation surrounding the opening 13 into the dolls head and whichflange is of substantially rectangular formation in cross section.

The body 10 is formed with a cylindrical neck 14 which may be closed byan end wall 15 and provided with a peripheral flange 16 extendingoutwardly substantially medial of the length thereof. The flange 16provides a shoulder or annular face 17 disposed in right "ice angularrelation with the cylindrical neck 14. The neck extends downwardly intothe body of the doll below the top thereof and at its lower end isconnected with an annular wall 18 extending outwardly therefrom in rightangular relation therewith. The annular wall 18 is connected by anannular Wall 19 concentric with the cylindrical neck 14 and whichextends upwardly and is connected with the wall 20 of the body tothereby provide an annular recess 21 coaxial with the cylindrical 'neckand substantially rectangular in section. The flange 16 overlies thebottom wall 18 of the recess and partially closes the upper portionthereof. The flange 12 of the head snugly and slidably fits the recess21 so as to connect the head and body together for turning movement ofthe head with reference to the body.

If the wall of the cylindrical neck 14 is relatively thin, a block orplug 22 of wood or the like is arranged within the neck to retain thesame in normal cylindrical formation. The block 22 is formed with anannular flange 23 at its lower end which underlies and supports the wall18 of the recess and at its upper end the block is pr vided with anoutwardly extending rim 24 of triangular shaped formation in sectionwhich fits a correspondingly shaped recess '25 in the wall of the neck14 and which recess 25 is located inwardly of the flange 16. The block22 is thus supported by the neck 14 to retain the same in positiontherein.

In order to connect the head and body together, the wall 20 of the bodysurrounding the recess 21 is distorted so as to enlarge the spacebetween the same and the flange 16. The flange 12 of the head is theninserted in the recess 21 and the wall 20 of the body is releasedwhereby the same returns to its normal formation and the flange of thehead is retained in position in the recess by the flange 16 of the neckwhich projects into the dolls head above the flange 12 of the head.

In the form of the invention illustrated in FIG. 3 of the drawings thedolls head 30 and the body 11 are preferably formed of a thermoplasticmaterial with the dolls head being relatively hard and stiff and thebody soft and flexible but which inherently retains its normalformation. In this form, however, the head 30 is pro vided with anelongated neck 32 having a peripheral flange 33 projecting inwardly atthe bottom thereof and forming a neck opening 34 about the innerperiphery of said flange. The body 31 is similar to the body 11 in theprevious form of the invention and similarly includes a cylindrical neck35 having a flange 36 intermediate the length thereof. The flange 36provides a shoulder or face 37 which overlies the flange '33 of the headwith said flange '33- slidably fitting a recess 38 in the upper portionof the body 31 in surrounding relation with the cylindrical neck 35similar to the arrangement of the flange 12 and recess 21 in theprevious form of the invention. A block or plug 39 of wood similar tothe block or plug in the previous form of the engagement is arrangedwithin the cylindrical neck 35 for maintaining the same in extendedrelation and supporting the bottom wall of the recess.

Instead of the flanges 16 and 36 in the previous forms of the inventionwhich are of triangular formation in section the same may be ofrectangular formation as shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings. In this formthe dolls head 40 is provided with an elongated neck 41 and with aninwardly directed peripheral flange 42 at the lower end thereof whichslidably engages in a recess 43 in the upper portion of the dolls body44. In this form of the invention, however, the neck 45 of the body isformed with an annular peripheral portion 46 of rectangular formation insection extending outwardly intermediate the length thereof and which isdisposed in overlving relation with the upper face 41 of the flange 42 3of the head 40. The neck 45 is retained in extended relation by a meansof a block or plug 47 which is similar to the block or plug in theprevious forms of the invention but is formed'with an outwardlyextending annular rim 48 at the upper end thereof which snugly fits therecess within the extending portion 46.

The blocks 22 and 39 :are inserted in the body through one of the legopenings while the block 47 is insertably in the body through the neckopening. The head of the doll in all three forms is described as beingrelatively hard and stiff. Nevertheless, the head in all three formsbeing fashioned of thermoplastic material, the neck p rtion thereof isadapted to be expanded to facilitate the insertion of the flanges 12, 33and 42 respectively on the neck of the body inwardly beyond the flanges16, 36 and 46 of the several forms for engagement of the flanges 12, 33and 42 in the recesses respectively at the base of the neck of the body.

While the preferred forms of the invention are shown and describedherein, it is understood that same is not so limited but shall cover andinclude all transactions thereof which fall Within the purview of theinvention.

'What is claimed is:

In a joint construction between a dolls head and body, a head of hollowformation having an annular neck portion of substantially rectangularformation in section and which provides a bottom opening into the head,a deformable member of hollow formation having a hollow cylindrical wallforming the neck of the doll body, said cylindrical wall extendingdownwardly into the body with the upperportion thereof protruding abovethe body and having a peripheral flange extending otuwardly therefrom, awall extending outwardly within the doll body in surrounding integralrelation with the lower end of said cylindrical wall, an upwardlyextending annular wall within the doll body disposed parallel andconcentric with said cylindrical wall and integral with said outwardlyextending wall and the wall of the doll body to thereby form with saidperipheral flange an annular recess of substantially rectangularformation in section surrounding said cylindrical wall and which is openat the top only between said peripheral flange and the top of the dollbody, said neck portion of the head snugly fitting said recess inprotruding relation therefrom with said peripheral flange overlying anddisposed in engagement with the upper face of said neck portion of thehead, said peripheral flange having an annular recess in the inner facethereof, and a solid plug arranged within said cylindrical wall having aflange at the upper end thereof fitting said annular recess and a bottomflange located within the body underlying and supporting said outwardlyextending wall to thereby retain the said cylindrical wall and theperipheral flange in expanded relation and the head and doll body inassembled relation for relative turning movement of the head withreference to the body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,897,914 Schaetfer Feb. 14, 1933 1,998,864 Dodge Apr. 23, 19352,118,682. Nagel May 24, 1938 2,879,626 Gradwohl Mar. 31, 1959 2,884,739Ketcham May 5, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,085,650 France Feb. 4, 1955

